Casey: GOP has no plan for health care
Sen. Bob Casey says the GOP wants to repeal Obamacare but offers no solution. Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss disagrees.
Casey endorses same-sex marriage, an issue of 'conscience'
(CNN) - Sen. Bob Casey, a socially conservative Democrat and Pennsylvania's senior senator, announced his support for same-sex marriage Monday saying he had been influenced in part by "letters written to me by LGBT Pennsylvanians and their families."
"After much deliberation and after reviewing the legal, public policy, and civil rights questions presented, I support marriage equality for same-sex couples and believe that DOMA should be repealed," he said in a statement.
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FIRST ON CNN: National Republicans putting money in sleeper Pennsylvania Senate race
Washington (CNN) – National Republicans are dedicating half a million dollars to the GOP candidate trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, CNN has learned.
With 11 days to go before Election Day, this is the first time the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has invested in this race, a surprise since most political prognosticators consider this Senate seat likely to stay in Democratic hands.
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Senators to Saverin: Don't come back. Ever.
(CNNMoney) - Eduardo Saverin's decision to leave the United States with his money, but not his citizenship, has apparently touched a nerve in the Senate.
Two members of the world's greatest deliberative body, Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey, held a press conference Thursday morning on Capitol Hill where they outlined legislation that would prevent the Facebook co-founder from ever returning to the United States.
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Senate passes bill blocking congressional pay in event of a shutdown
Washington (CNN) – Congress just got one more incentive to find a compromise over government spending before the standoff leads to a government shutdown.
The Senate passed a bill by unanimous consent late Tuesday that would withhold pay for members of Congress and the president if a government shutdown were to happen.
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Poll: Obama and Casey on the rise in Pennsylvania
Washington (CNN) - Does Sen. Bob Casey Jr. deserve to be re-elected next year?
According to a new poll of voters in Pennsylvania, 46 percent say yes.
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Poll: Casey in OK shape 23 months before election
(CNN) - Republicans scored big victories in Pennsylvania in last month's midterm elections, winning back the governor's office, a U.S. Senate seat and five House seats from the Democrats.
But looking ahead to 2012, a new poll of Keystone state voters indicates there is a plurality of support for re-electing Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr.
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Tort reform could save $54 billion, report says
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Congressional Budget Office is now estimating that limits on medical malpractice lawsuits - reforms favored by many Republicans - could save the government as much as $54 billion over the next ten years.
The government spends about $2.5 trillion on health care every year.
A tort reform package that includes caps on jury awards of $500,000 for punitive damages and $250,000 for "pain and suffering" damages would lower liability insurance premiums by about 10 percent, according to a report from the non-partisan CBO issued late last week.
Such laws would lower expenditures on government programs like Medicare and Medicaid by roughly $41 billion, according to the report. An additional $13 billion would be gained from taxable wages over ten years as employers reduce the amount they spend on health care.
The research was revealed in a letter sent Friday from CBO director Douglas Elmendorf to Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican who has raised questions about how much malpractice reform would save.
Casey: $250K cap on malpractice damages 'insulting'
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/11/art.caseysotu1011.cnn.jpg caption="Sen. Casey said Sunday that an aspect of medical malpractice reform favored by many congressional Republicans was 'insulting' and wouldn't be 'justice as we have come to understand it.'"]
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A moderate Pennsylvania Democrat came out strongly Sunday against the possibility of imposing a cap on medical malpractice damages as part of comprehensive health care reform legislation currently under consideration in Congress.
“I don’t think the way to go is to limit the rights of Americans who are injured by negligent or intentional conduct,” Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey who is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
“A $250,000 cap on damages, in my humble opinion, is insulting to our system of justice,” Casey also told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, “That is not justice as we have come to understand it.”
In an interview that aired earlier on State of the Union, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain suggested that medical malpractice reform was one area where the GOP should begin to crystallize its own positive health care reform agenda now that Congress is about to begin to process of melding together several health care bills in both chambers.
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Dem senators mixed on gay rights issues
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Less than a day after President Obama gave a rousing speech to the nation’s largest gay rights group, two of Obama’s fellow Democrats in the Senate had a mixed reaction on a trio of issues important to gay and lesbian supporters of the Democratic Party.
In a speech before a gathering of the Human Rights Campaign, President Obama reaffirmed his campaign pledge to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gays in the military. But, to the disappointment of some gay rights activists, President Obama failed to specify a timeframe for doing so.
Sunday, on CNN’s State of the Union, Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan both said they supported the president’s plans regarding gays in the military and hate crimes legislation pending in Congress that would protect gays and lesbians.
“The president is putting the priorities in the right place,” Stabenow told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King about Mr. Obama’s support for domestic partnership benefits for all couples, the hate crimes bill, and repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
But both Democrats said they could not support same-sex marriage, an important part of the civil rights agenda for many gays and lesbians.
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